With women, for a lifetimeTM Commendation
Bassett Nurse-Midwifery Service (Cooperstown, NY)
The nurse-midwifery service at Bassett Health Care, in Cooperstown, NY, filled the vacuum created by the loss of the Bassett Obstetrical Residency program in 1986, when delivery volume fell below 336 births. The service has since grown to a high of nearly 800 births with outcomes demonstrating a decline in cesarean, episiotomy, and perineal lacerations, while VBAC, vaginal twin, and breech birth rates increased.
The service has been an innovator, developing the PCAP (Prenatal Care Assistance Program) service model, and bringing holistic care to a rural population with a self pay status as high as 45 percent. The nurse-midwives provide first line assessment of all clients unless they refuse midwifery services. Care management is either independent for low risk or collaborative for all others; depending on the skills of each team member.
The collaborative model of care at the Bassett Birth Center attracts midwifery, medical, and nursing students who desire clinical experience. The staff CNMs, all ACNM members, precept nurse-midwifery students from at least six educational programs, osteopathic medical students from the University of New England, students from Bassett’s Emergency Medical Technician program, and CNEP students.
The nurse-midwives at Bassett Nurse-Midwifery Service have been published in areas ranging from PROM and jet hydrotherapy in labor, to birth position as it relates to perineal integrity.
The Bassett Nurse-Midwifery Service remains true to the heart of midwifery.
